Shepherd Center’s educational video series on understanding spinal cord injury and brain injury was named a finalist today in the 2012 PR Daily Awards sponsored by Ragan Communications and Dow Jones. Shepherd Center shares the nomination with its video/interactive communications agency, KPKinteractive.

Created by Shepherd Center and KPKinteractive, the video series is being distributed across the nation. It is part of an integrated awareness campaign to educate families and loved ones of people affected by a recent spinal cord or brain injury. The series is titled “What you need to know about brain and spinal cord injury.”

Considered the #1 source for industry news in health care public relations, PR Daily selected Shepherd Center as a finalist in two categories: “Best Corporate Social Responsibility” and “Best Fitness/Health Campaign.”

The project has also been named a finalist in the 2012 Silver Anvil Awards presented by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Essentially a “101” of brain and spinal cord injury, the series is the first and most comprehensive of its kind. It includes a 45-minute video about brain injury and an hour-long video about spinal cord injury, along with two microsites (BrainInjury101.org and Spinalinjury101.org), a companion booklet, posters and fliers distributed in trauma care hospitals and via national health care associations.

The campaign was more than a year in the making and involves spinal cord and brain injury physicians and experts, neuroscientists, advocates and a special appearance by Lee Woodruff, CBS This Morning contributor, author and wife of Bob Woodruff, the ABC News journalist who sustained a catastrophic brain injury while embedded with the U.S. military in Iraq. It is narrated by Judy Fortin, a former CNN health care correspondent and anchor.

“Shepherd Center is thrilled that PR Daily and Silver Anvil judges have noticed the importance of educating families and loved ones of newly injured patients via a comprehensive resource because it is truly one of the most stressful times you can imagine,” said project director Larry Bowie, director of marketing and public relations for Shepherd Center.

“KPKinteractive has been a trusted video and strategic communications partner of the Shepherd Center since 2002,” Bowie said. “KPK has gained a deep understanding of brain and spinal cord injury, which enabled them to help us put together a well-researched and empathetic educational program that has far exceeded our goals for distribution, website views, partnerships and patient referrals.”

“This recognition is especially rewarding to us, given our long-term commitment to and passion for the subject,” said Karin P. Koser, principal of KPKinteractive. “As an intentionally lean firm, we are especially excited to be qualified with this great client, as well as with the other outstanding organizations represented.”

The PR Daily Awards Ceremony will be held Sept. 11 at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. Winners will be announced at that time.

The Silver Anvil Awards Ceremony will be held on June 7 at the Equitable Tower in New York City. Silver Anvil winners and Award of Excellence recipients will be announced at that time, along with the “Best Of” Silver Anvil and PRSA’s prestigious Public Relations Professional of the Year Award.

About Shepherd Center

Shepherd Center, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is a private, not-for-profit hospital specializing in medical treatment, research and rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injury, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, spine and chronic pain, and other neuromuscular conditions. Founded in 1975, Shepherd Center is ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top 10 rehabilitation hospitals in the nation. In its more than four decades, Shepherd Center has grown from a six-bed rehabilitation unit to a world-renowned, 152-bed hospital that treats more than 935 inpatients, 541 day program patients and more than 7,300 outpatients each year.